Lerwick Shetland

Because of the Corona and spending more time behind the computer we now continue our plagues with Typhoid.

The fishermen of Noordwijk and Katwijk  and Scheveningen went every year herring fishing near Lerwick.
And on our  our last trip we went to Lerwick Shetland a place that is in our blood, and that we  wanted to visit for many years
Our Grandfather went there as well as a seventeen year old boy.
He told us many a time about his big adventure.
He fell ill with typhoid and could not stay on the vessel.
It is also very contagious  The ship  he sailed on was the Vigilance (Waakzaamheid) The SCH 352. Here in Lerwick harbour.

This happened on the 25th Of June 1898.
It was even in The Shetland Times.Almost 100 hundred years ago.

Shetland Times 25 juni 1898

Shetland Times - Saturday 27 August 1898

The Dutch vicar L van der Valk , who felt sorry for the lad ,took care of him and placed him in the hospital and later took care of him in his own house.
On the 27th of August he was allowed to return home.
The minister was there to take care of the 3000-4000 Dutch fishermen that visited Lerwick.He stated that there was hardley any drunken or misbehaving Dutchmen .

He went then with our grandfather back on the ss  St Rognvald .

The trip back to Holland could not done  by herringship,even then it was selfisolation, but had to be done by ferry and  overland.
So they went from Lerwick to Aberdeen and from there  to London.
And there Grandpa told us this remarkable story.....
I had to go to the toilet and there was not one .
"so I had to do it in some bushes"
However I was spotted by a Bobby .
Who told me "that will cost you a pound".
I replied.... looking at what I produced.....You can take that pound .There is more then enough there...
Grandpa did not go to sea anymore but worked in the bulbfields instead.
The fishermen brought back not only the herring but also Staffordshire flatback dogs and peppermint.So many comforters are still to be found in Dutch houses.
As the men went fishing a Quote was "Ze benne om Hondjes " They are going for dogs 

this poem by T.P Ollason about the Dutch Fishermen and their trips to Shetland

'Goeden avond, fader Clumper,
There's something in your voice,
That exhilarates our fancy
Like unto a good 'ci-har'
Though you sport an air of pickle,
And your clumpers make a noise,
Ever welcome are the winds that
Waft you o'er the harbour bar'.

Titel Hollanders in Shetland
Auteur Adrian J. Beenhakker
Uitgever Shetland County Museum, 1973
Lengte 18 pagina's